Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said Wednesday that the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) operatives are now hunting the killers of two lawyers in Palawan and Cebu City.
Guevarra said the NBI is “working hard” to investigate the killings of lawyers Eric Jay Magcamit and Joey Luis Wee, who were both shot dead within a week.
Guevarra added more field operatives had been deployed in Palawan and Cebu to intensify the manhunt operation.
“The government is very much concerned about the increasing number of crimes committed against lawyers, prosecutors, and judges, and while these are generally considered to be part of the hazards of the profession, the government is committed to bring the perpetrators of these crimes before the bar of justice,” he said in a message to reporters.
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NBI now ‘hunting’ killers of Palawan, Cebu lawyers – Guevarra
Lawyer Eric Jay Magcamit was shot dead in the southern Palawan town of Narra on Tuesday morning last week.
According to the initial police report, two unidentified suspects flagged down the lawyer. The suspects then fired at Magcamit upon stepping out of his vehicle, killing him instantly.
Magcamit is the 52nd in the legal profession to be killed under the Duterte administration since 2016.
The Integrated Bar of the Philippines Palawan chapter condemned the killing of lawyer Eric Jay Magcamit, citing the incident as an “attack to the legal order and justice system by means of fear and violence.”
Meanwhile, lawyer Joey Luis Wee was shot dead by two unidentified men while walking to his office in Barangay Kasambagan, Cebu City yesterday.
According to the police, Joey Luis Wee, 51, sustained two bullet wounds in his body. He was rushed to a local hospital but died while being treated, said Police Maj. Dindo Juanito Alaras, chief of the Mabolo police station here.
Alaras said Wee had just got out of his car and was on his way to his office at Altchi Building at 1:30 p.m. when he was shot. The suspects escaped on a motorcycle.
Authorities are yet to identify the motives behind the killing of the Cebu City lawyer. Wee served as counsel for former officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) tagged in the controversial purchase of 1,800 lampposts in the cities of Cebu, Mandaue, and Lapu-Lapu in 2007.